Teaching with modern influences
A lot has changed in the teaching profession over the years
A lot has changed in the teaching profession over the years

– Changing attitudes and the effects on society

By Ravena Gildharie

THERE was a time when the teaching profession and all educators commanded a great degree of admiration and respect among their peers, students, parents and all of society. Today, there is a feeling that such culture has been lost, and that society is paying a heavy price for this variation.

Reflecting on his schooling in Guyana during the 1950s, Canada-based, Peter Jailall said, “our teachers were like our second parents. The children belonged to all the elders. We were expected to attend school regularly and punctually. No child dared curse before an elder.”

Now, a highly-successful poet and writer, Jailall has also been an educator for over 52 years and remains grateful for the influences of his teachers and community at large.
However, increasingly in Guyana today, it is believed that the respect that children once had for their elders is no longer there and that interest in their school work is not as focused as the days of old. Others argue that at school, some teachers seem to have lost their passion for the profession and are more self-concerned and obsessed with earning an income, rather than positively molding the future generation.

And while these points are debatable, the questions remain: what is the cause? and what can be done to fix these apparent problems?
General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Coretta Mc Donald, agrees that the teaching profession has changed significantly as compared to what it was two decades ago, and believes this is due to a shift in the attitude of all parties; parents, teachers, students, the church, other sections of civil society and every individual.

“The burden of rearing a child is left on the teachers because when the parents don’t have time, the church and rest of society seems to have given up. Years ago, punctuality was a serious thing and you would not have seen children skipping classes and liming because they were afraid that someone in society would see and reprimand them. Today, children are absent from classes, but playing even in the schoolyard,” Mc Donald stated.

As a teacher for close to 30 years, she outlined several factors including the advancement and expansion of technology, noting that though it provides many benefits, it is also negatively influencing some change in the behaviour and culture of both students and teachers. Then there are societal influences, both locally and worldwide, such as the stipulations imposed by the developed world on developing countries. Some foreign-funded projects, for example, in the education and other sectors often demand Guyana’s consent to practices and policies administered in those developed states.

The prohibition on corporal punishment and other forms of discipline previously used by teachers and parents in this part of the world are inherited from northern influences and there remains some debate as to whether these developments cause more harm than good.

Modern influences
According to Mc Donald, “in the developed world, they have professional counsellors and other facilities that support the school system and still they have many problems that we, in the Caribbean and third world countries don’t have in our schools, even though we don’t have the counsellors and such facilities like them.”

These northern influences, she feels have encouraged local society to lose sight of the morals and values once upheld. Today, teachers are skeptical of their actions and how they would be interpreted by their students and parents. Further, there are increasing social issues such as the growing number of single-parent homes, where the fathers are absent and mothers are busy working to take care of the family. Resulting from this, young children are sometimes left in the care of older siblings, often just a few years older, or other relatives.

“So there is a strain on the school system and teachers are more pressured not only to focus on the academics, but to take on that parenting role to instill values and morals while being cognisant that if they say something in a certain way, or even hug a child in a certain way, their actions can be judged wrongfully,” Mc Donald outlined.
Notwithstanding these issues, she, however, admitted that the teaching profession has lost its respect too because of the actions and attitude of some teachers.

“Teachers no more have pride in their profession. Some of them just see it as a job to get money and survive…So, if there is a syllabus that requires three hours of teaching per day; they teach two in the classrooms and three during lessons,” Mc Donald related.
Teachers are guilty of frequently being absent from classes and turning up late to work, dressing unprofessionally and being idle, chatting on phones or conversing extensively with staff, Mc Donald said.

This type of behavior, she believes, needs to change urgently, as teachers must see themselves as mirrors with a responsibility to train and produce well-rounded students who the teachers can be proud of. She advocates these changes during her weekly visits to various schools where she engages teachers in professional development sessions and students in moral talks. She said there is need to go back to the drawing board to ensure teachers regain their once respected status.

TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES
A teacher of Central High School, who asked not be named, noted that many times if a child has a problem at school and the parent(s) are called in, they would turn up with a very disrespectful attitude and display such to the teachers in front of the child and all others. This, the teacher feels is causing students to have little to no respect for their teachers.

“Parents are not as involved as before,” the teacher observed too, adding that “most times you see parents only when the child enters the school and not much after. Parents come and do not even know which class their child is in.”
Sandra Doorga is a retired teacher with close to 40 years of service. She hails from a family of teachers from Essequibo.

“At one time, we had five teachers in our home and we were known as the house of teachers,” she reflected, proud of the profession. She started teaching at the primary level, trained and later moved to the secondary level where she was part of a teaching staff that established and developed the Charity Secondary, a school that caters for children of the Pomeroon and surrounding areas. She taught there for 20 years until she retired a few years ago. Having served during that transitioning era, she observed first-hand the shift in the behaviour of students, teachers and parents.

As a teacher in the 1970s, she observed that parents were serious about education and were therefore highly respectful of the educators. They also trusted the teachers to do what was in the best interest of the children and most times when the teachers scolded a child, the parent supported the action believing that it was necessary. Sometimes parents would even add a second punishment for the misdemeanor. This instilled a sense of control within the school system and maintained among the students, the value of their schooling and education.

The teachers were cognisant of this responsibility and took their jobs seriously, seeking to produce children with an education that can make them meaningful members of society.
Over the years, Doorga observed parents taking their children’s side against teachers, and sometimes there were even instances when the parent sought to physically harm the teachers, further adding to the stress and change in attitude.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.